BHUBANESWAR: The Naveen Patnaik-led BJD is in the lead with 15,541 votes over the BJP, which is the party's closest challenger, in the by-election for the Padampur Assembly seat in Odisha's Bargarh district.

After eight rounds of counting, Barsha Singh Bariha of the BJD garnered 43,691 votes, while Pradip Purohit of the BJP received 28,150.

Satya Bhusan Sahu, a candidate for the Congress, is in third place with just 1,634 votes.

In terms of percentage, the BJD has received 57.8% of the ballots that have been counted so far, followed by the BJP with 37.2% and Congress with just 2.2%.

At RMC Godown in Padampur, counting has been taking place since 8 a.m. under strict security.

14 tables will total the votes from 319 booths in each round. For the byelection, 23 rounds of counting will take place, according to an Election Commission representative.

On December 5, a by-election was held. After the BJD's first defeat since 2009 in Dhamnagar, it gains significance.

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